The loss sucked but at least we looked like an nfl offense. We missed Joe badly today. Hagg is isn't an impactful player either but the front seven had another solid outing. The secondary had absolutely no leadership today it seemed. I don't believe in moral victories but it wasn't the normal pathetic Cleveland browns football we are used to seeing.

Good to see a real offensive playmaker on this team finally in Richardson. Weeden was very good too after the abortion that was last week. Nice to see the rookies bounce back. No Haden, no Brown, ugh, couldn't expect good pass D after losing those two. Haden is so important to keeping our secondary glued together apparently. D'Qwell Jackson and our strong defensive line that gets crazy good pressure is also very encouraging. Hopefully we build on that. Too bad for the PR TD and the long pass and run TD we gave up or it would've been a good road win instead of a tough road loss.

yeah, they keep the QB clean. Neither of our guards are maulers though and are both younger more finesse guys. Schwartz is a rookie (and he's actually done a fine job the past couple weeks since he got his NFL cherry busted by Jason Babin) and Thomas isn't having his best season. Not having any passing threat at all doesn't help Trent's case either.

In truth it's Trent too. He's still a rookie and feeling his way. I think there have been times he hasn't made the right cut or hit things as fast as he should have. I also hadn't realized till now how ineffective Watson and Cameron are in the run game. We really miss Alex Smith. Couple that with a rookie RT who's basically been hit or miss thru 3 games and a pair of pedestrian OGs who are better pass blockers then run blockers and you see the results. Not to mention a completely useless FB. Plus, our solid guys, Thomas and Mack, haven't played their best ball yet either.

The game tonight has the two best rookie RBs this year imo, Trent and Bernard Pierce. In case the score gets embarrassing, these two should be worth looking at and comparing.

Until Weedon proves he can actually beat a defense by throwing, teams are going to continue with 7 or 8 bodies in the box making life miserable for the OL and RB's. Teams are simply saying Cleveland cannot beat you by throwing, so play defense to take away the run and Cleveland has no offense. And that will be the story the whole year.

Yeah, Weeden threw it downfield well against Baltimore - and Trent had plenty of room to run when he got the ball, he just didn't get that many carries. The WRs need to step up and I think Weeden will start to progress even more.

Heckert thinks he's going to be fired - that's a shame, I like him. I know he drafted Owen Marecic early and Hardesty hasn't done much although he showed a pulse last week, but he has put some really nice players on this team and I'd totally give him a couple more years to get this thing going.

I think our defense would improve greatly with a legitimate free safety. Buster Skrine isn't awful when he's not matched up against elite WRs.

I really don't think we're that far off from a talent perspective, Sheard needs a partner in crime and the young linebackers show glimpses of sick potential then they get lost, they're rookies though.

I don't know, but you get the sense that Haslem/Banner would rather this group stick together and improve then bring in another HC/GM and system. I think that would be their ideal scenario. It's unquestionable that Heckert has put guys out there with talent. The criticism is, what was the motivation to put together such an unproven cast this year? Is that supreme confidence or mismanagement? ...and what hand did Holmgren play in the personnel decisions? I'll bet how Weeden plays vs Luck this weekend will stick in our new execs minds more then some other contests.

While this is speculation on my account, Holmgren did admit to pulling rank on the selection on Colt McCoy, and probably did with Weeden also. Moreover, I think it's wrong for a team President to impose his will on what systems the team will be running offensively and defensively. I just think Heckert got his toes stepped on a lot and the Walrus put him in an unfair position.

I just think TH deserves a shot to actually do his job, I don't give a **** what Holmgren did with Green Bay when I was like 8, he drove this organization into the ground even deeper.

I think Heckert has done his job well. We tore down the old, veteran roster we had from Mangini and restocked it with a bunch of young players that we acquired with draft picks. That's how you build a good team in the NFL. We need to keep doing that regardless of who our GM is going forward. We have a lot of nice pieces in place. Still need another go to guy at WR and TE, plus some more talent on defense (esp. at pass rusher and in the secondary). We appear to have the QB in place though right now to turn the team around in the next few years finally.

Yeah at this point I'm okay with Weeden for now. If the front office doesn't see a guy they like for the future in this draft, then put a different piece in place (Mingo, Jarvis Jones, Milliner, Best WR) and move forward with that.

Yes, I've been rough on Weeden but I can eat crow when it's appropriate. The dude is making things happen out there, it just sucks it coach is full re tard.

Do you guys see our run defense woes as talent deprivation or schematic issues? Both? We consistently get gashed for 5-6 yards it seems.

run defense in the NFL is such a fickle thing. Our secondary outside of Haden is terrible, and the other team's ability to pass opens up the run for them. We can't put TJ Ward in the box and our young linebackers playing with Jackson aren't great against the run yet. Not to mention we've been starting either 1 or 2 rookie DTs with Taylor out and Rubin not being 100%. We just need more talent and depth on defense, we're not there yet though we saw glimpeses last year when we had a healthy unit.